Ants on my clematis
By Sunlight
United Kingdom 
There are hundreds of ants on my clematis and I wondered if they can be treated without affecting the open flowers? Also alot of the branches were brown (I have pulled them off) and now the plant is lop sided. What causes the branches to be brown so that I can avoid this in future.
Thanks.
12 Jul, 2009
Answers
I had a similar problem a couple of years ago - the ants were def. feeding (or whatever they do with them) on Aphids - I sprayed the whole plant with a home-made garlic spray (smells dreadful but def. works) - someone told me that the Ants would probably have made a nest in the pot & advised me to keep flooding the pot with water which did, after a couple of days, see them packing their bags & re-locating.
12 Jul, 2009
Check the plant for aphid infestation - ants usually only go up the leaves and stems of a plant to collect the honeydew from the aphids. If it is infested, spray for them - could be black or greenfly, but it doesn't matter which, just get something that treats for those.
And in terms of future prevention of browning, which variety of clematis is it? If you don't know, please tell me when it flowers - if its only just started, and hasn't flowered at all this year, or whether it flowered early spring, or whether it flowers later, say May/June, and then a few more now.
12 Jul, 2009